After the departure of Buy As You View's CEO Gillian Wilmot in 2007, the new management team wants to get back to the basics of rent-and-collect.

United Kingdom based Rent-to-Own company Buy As You View received $12 million in new financing. The deal was made with private equity owner 3i and three banks - RBS, HBOS and Barclays. 3i financed a $200 million management buyout in 2004.

After the departure of Buy As You View's CEO Gillian Wilmot in 2007, the new management team wants to get back to the basics of rent-and-collect.

New CEO Graham Clarke told the Western Mail, "It is important that we get back to basics and focus on providing customers with the products they want, finance they need and customer service they can rely on. More than 60% of our new business comes directly from existing customer referrals and it is essential that we build on that if we are to continue to succeed."

Buy As You View was founded in 1972 to serve sub-prime credit consumers. Customers select their desired products from a catalogue and make their payments through a coinmeter attached to their television set. The coinmeter controls the electrical supply to the television and regulates the number of viewing hours which will vary depending on the repayments. The meters are emptied at regular intervals by teams of Account Managers based in regional offices. The business proposition is different from other rent to own retailers in the UK market place, as it does not operate brick and mortar locations.

The company offers standard Rent to Own, or it's UK equivalent "hire purchase", agreements, usually over a period of 3 years.

In other UK RTO news, the long anticipated lawsuits surrounding the collapse of UK based Boxclever will begin this month.

Investment bank Natixis is suing three of the groups that arranged the $1.46 billion refinancing of Boxclever in 2000. The company was later sold at a huge loss. The trial begins January 21.

In 1999, Granada Rentals and Radio Rentals joined forces to form BoxClever, creating the UK's largest Rent to Own company with over 900 stores. At its peak, BoxClever employed 9,000 people and claimed to have more than 2.3 million customers with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion.